Dearest Friends and Colleagues:

We are pleased to launch a 7-day ITAD workshop from 20th August to 27th August exploring the ancient Roman architectures and all its historic layers in a contemporary format. Besides Rome, the itinerary includes trips to Tivoli, Florence and Naples. The application is open now!

During this 7-day journey, the direct observation and mapping of Rome’s monumental lots will serve as a basis for the students’ work and proposals throughout the workshop. In particular, students will observe the relationship between a building’s evolutional phase and the subsequent intervention proposals, trying to identify the different moments of transformation. This will help them to visualize and illustrate “time” through different means, revealing the invisible Rome. In the final stage students will have to express through any artistic or architectural mean (poster, comic, sketch, video, collage, plan, map) the latest immaterial or material layer that forms Rome of 2018.

The workshop will emphasize a perspective of “Urban Heritage”. As Prof.Federico De Matteis mentioned, “Urban heritage” can be conceived as an all-encompassing term, including all that a historic city contains: its buildings open space, green areas, as well as the immaterial substance inhabiting this physical world, such as layers of meaning, traditions, or inhabitants’ behaviours. The preservation of this heritage is thus not a matter of restoring the buildings alone, but, much more widely, the ability to project these precious layers beyond the curtain of present time, allowing them to adapt to new situations, spatial configurations, or changed social conditions. Designing this change is, therefore, an even more daunting challenge: for if we can reasonably consider our “designer’s toolkit” as being filled with useful utensils, we must nevertheless take into account the repercussions that our actions produce on those immaterial aspects most often escaping exact measure and definition.”

The Italian Architecture and Design Association has been created by NOS Design Studio and its partners. ITAD, is registered with the Department of Architecture of University of Sapienza in Rome and the Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. di Roma e Provincia, and networks with public and private sector organizations at national and international level. As such, it is a growing organization and works for human development, promotion of knowledge and cultural exchange; creating networks among institutions and students, better opportunities; improving standards of cultivation and provides assistance both to academic institutions as well as social sector organizations for smooth implementation of their international identity.

The deadline for application is 30th July.You are welcome to send your portfolio to info@itad.it. Please do not hesitate to contact us by email for any further information.

A warm greeting to all of you,

Benedetta G. Morelli + Valina Geropanta